Wilson's New Freedom

“Freedom today is something more than being

let alone. Without the watchful…resolute interference of the

government, there can be no fair play between individuals and such

powerful institutions as the trust.”

~ Woodrow Wilson

NCSCOS Goal #7

Page 44

Woodrow Wilson spent his youth in the South during the Civil War and

Reconstruction. The son, grandson, and nephew of Presbyterian

ministers, he received a strict upbringing. Before entering politics, Wilson worked as a lawyer, a history professor, and later as president of

Princeton University. In 1910, Wilson became the governor of New Jersey.

As governor, he supported progressive legislation programs such as a direct primary, worker’s

compensation, and the regulation of public utilities and railroads.

As America’s newly elected president, Wilson moved to enact his

program, the “New Freedom,” and planned his attack on what he called

the triple wall of privilege.

His Pledge

•New Freedom

-to fight the evils of society

-tariffs

-trusts

-banking

-poverty

-disease

-corrupt gov’t•Wants to fight the Triple Wall of Privilege

“There has been a change of government… Nowhere else in the world have noble men and women exhibited in more striking forms the beauty and the energy of sympathy and helpfulness and counsel in their efforts to rectify wrong, alleviate suffering, and set the weak in

the way of strength and hope.” ~Woodrow Wilson’s 1st Inaugural

According to Wilson, most Americans were trapped

inside a Triple Wall of Privilege, fighting high tariffs, trusts, and high

finance.

Wilson wants to break down these walls with his “New Freedom” plan, and he wants to make America

more affordable for ALL Americans.

Tariffs:

cos

ts w

ere

too

hig

h

for m

ost Am

eric

ans

to

affor

d, ye

t ta

riffs

wer

e th

e

mai

n s

ourc

e of

rev

enue

for

the

feder

al g

over

nm

ent

Trusts: com

pan

ies were

still limitin

g com

petition

for small b

usin

esses and

keepin

g overall p

rices

hig

h b

y formin

g larg

e

trusts

High Finance: people in America did not have the money to pay for the interest

rates on loans and borrowing.

Wilson’s New Freedom:

Fighting the Triple Wall of Privilege

Tariff and Taxes

-Wilson addressed Congress in person

-1st to do so since Madison’s 1812 War message

-Tariffs were lowered for 1st time since Civil War

Underwood Tariff

• Big business angry, Progressives happy

-Income tax provision was included

• Needed revenue for the federal government

Allowed by 16th Amendment

• Graduated tax on personal and cooperate income

-soon became main revenue source – main source today

Wilson lobbied hard in 1913 for the Underwood Act, which would

substantially reduce tariff rates for the first time since the Civil War. He

summoned Congress to a special session to plead his case, and established a

precedent of delivering the State-of-the-Union Address in person. Because of the new President’s use of the bully pulpit, Congress voted to cut tariffs in the face

of strong opposition.



finance.



Tariffs:

cos

ts w

ere

too

hig

h

for m

ost Am

eric

ans

to

affor

d, ye

t ta

riffs

wer

e th

e

mai

n s

ourc

e of

rev

enue

for

the

feder

al g

over

nm

ent

Trusts: com

pan

ies were

still limitin

g com

petition

for small b

usin

esses and

keepin

g overall p

rices

hig

h b

y formin

g larg

e

trusts





Federal Reserve

-Wilson addresses Congress

-gov’t needs to be able to control money supply

•Should be able to adjust amount of money in economy

-this reform would remove control of monetary supply from the banking trusts

-set up system of 12 national banks

•Gave federal gov. the ability to control money supply

-Federal reserve is an essential part of our economy today

• Issue money, transfer funds

•Protects banks and overall economy

To protect the banks and allow the federal government to easily control

the money supply, the Wilson Administration set up the Federal

Reserve System. The system has 12 national banks, in which every bank

in the United States becomes a member of one district bank. That

bank loans the smaller banks money and keeps them from going

bankrupt. This also puts the banking and monetary systems

under federal control.



finance.



Tariffs:

cos

ts w

ere

too

hig

h

for m

ost Am

eric

ans

to

affor

d, ye

t ta

riffs

wer

e th

e

mai

n s

ourc

e of

rev

enue

for

the

feder

al g

over

nm

ent

Trusts: com

pan

ies were

still limitin

g com

petition

for small b

usin

esses and

keepin

g overall p

rices

hig

h b

y formin

g larg

e

trusts





Trust Regulation

-FTC, 1914

Federal Trade Commission•“Watchdog” agency of businesses

-FTC could investigate corporate practices and regulate them if needed

•400 companies stopped in illegal activity

Woodrow Wilson’s administration began the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in 1914. This group, still in use

today, investigates the business practices of big businesses to ensure

that trusts and monopolies do not form, making business in America more

competitive.

-Clayton Anti-trust Act, 1914

•Strengthened Sherman Act•Could not own stock in one another to form monopolies

stronger law

protected unions•Strikes, peaceful picketing, boycotting all legal

• Injunctions against strikers not allowed

Trust Regulation

Also a trustbuster, Woodrow Wilson is pictured here as a farmer keeping “Big Business” from Wall Street behind the

anti-trust fence, keeping the small businesses from being eaten up by

hungry pigs.



finance.



Tariffs:

cos

ts w

ere

too

hig

h

for m

ost Am

eric

ans

to

affor

d, ye

t ta

riffs

wer

e th

e

mai

n s

ourc

e of

rev

enue

for

the

feder

al g

over

nm

ent

Trusts: com

pan

ies were

still limitin

g com

petition

for small b

usin

esses and

keepin

g overall p

rices

hig

h b

y formin

g larg

e

trusts





Suffrage Issue

-one of the Progressive reforms

•Right to vote for women

-Carrie Chapman Catt

a leader of the modern suffrage movement

• Invited Wilson to convention

•Wilson told women to wait

-some women moved to more militant efforts

•Picketing, hunger strikes

-women’s support in WW I eventually guaranteed success

•Very instrumental in WWI

Susan B. Anthony’s successor as president of NAWSA was Carrie

Chapman Catt. When Catt returned to NAWSA, she concentrated on five

tactics: painstaking organization; close ties between local, state, and national workers; establishing a wide base of

support; cautious lobbying; and gracious, ladylike behavior. Although suffragists saw victories, the greater

number of failures led some suffragists to try more radical tactics. They

pressured the federal government to pass a suffrage amendment, and they picketed the White House and went on

hunger strikes. Their efforts, and America’s involvement in WWI, finally

made women’s suffrage inevitable.

While the Progressive Presidents believed in giving greater freedom to average citizens, Roosevelt, Taft, and

Wilson all retreated on civil rights once in office. Wilson, with his Southern

background, maintained his prejudicial beliefs once in office, which prevented

him from using federal power to fight off attacks directed at the civil rights of

African Americans.

During the Presidential campaign of 1912, Wilson won support of the

NAACP’s black intellectuals and white liberals by promising to treat blacks

equally and to speak out against lynching.

As President, however, Wilson opposed federal anti-lynching legislation, arguing

that these crimes fell under state jurisdiction. In addition, the Capitol and the federal offices in Washington, D.C., which had been desegregated during

Reconstruction, resumed the practice of segregation shortly after Wilson’s

election.

“Only two years ago you were heralded as perhaps the second

Lincoln, and now the Afro-American leaders who supported you are hounded as false leaders

and traitors to their race…As equal citizens and by virtue of your public promises we are

entitled at your hands to freedom from discrimination, restriction, imputation, and

insult in government employ. Have you a ‘new freedom’ for white Americans and a new

slavery for your ‘Afro-American fellow citizens’? God forbid!”

~William Monroe Trotter, address to President Wilson

The Limits of Progressivism

Progressive Results

-laissez-faire policy fades

•Government becomes involved in the lives of its citizens

-social reforms help many

-Women have the right to vote, 19th Amendment

•1920, 70 years after they started the fight

-African Americans still ignored

•Still segregated•No anti-lynching laws

-World War I seems to end reforms

•Focus on world problems rather than home

Women celebrate as the 19th Amendment is ratified, which officially gave women the

right to vote in all federal elections, in 1920. This result was the capstone of the

Progressive Movement.

“There is no chance of progress and reform in an administration in which war

plays the principal part.”

~Woodrow Wilson

Documents

Wilson's New Freedom